David: ChopperGirl'sPoorGirl is built
from plans using T6 aluminum tube, and chrome-moly steel where
needed.

There is some welding for the chrome-moly steel parts.

Stainless steel rivets, and aircraft AN-x bolts hold it together.

It is covered with 6 mill thick boat shrink wrap. The boat shrink
wrap is held down by 2" wide boat shrink stretch tape. The trim
paint is Rustolium.

The motor started
and ran strong, idled well. Broke prop.

Stored it in my
storage building over the winter.

Replaced throttle
cable with a push-pull cable, the old one stuck.

Welded portion of
tail wheel bolted to shaft.

Replaced broken prop
with a Tennesse 66" x 31 pitch.

Wife increases my
life insurance.

I added two
pullies to extend the
start rope to the front of the wing.

I
rewound the pull starter with a longer rope to reach the front.

Charged
LiPo batteries in the GoPro, and Eagle Tree electronics.

Lashed plane to a
tree, and did a successful engine run up.

Regapped plugs to
.015 to make starting easier.

Changed to a 4s 16volt LiPo so on screen video would stay on
longer.

Added a 12v to 5v
BEC to On Screen Display to stop it from going off.

I taxi up and down the runway, and it was too rough,
ground looped and broke one main axle in corn field.

Replaced
main axles with steel.

Scraped, disked,
and drug runway to smooth it. Waited on rain to help pack the loose
dirt.

Tried again to do
a fast taxi, and the plane ground looped left into corn, then later into a
tree going the other direction. Broke the frame for landing gear on
right side hitting tree.

At this point I'm
going to convert it to trike gear and get rid of the ground loop
problems. Never say die!

It's mid August
and the trike gear are ready.

I was able to
taxi straight down the runway without any ground looping, thanks to
the trike gear. Also, I can now turn around in the runway width
under power. The nose wheel will need replacing. I hit a mole hole
and gunned it trying to go over it. That took the front wheel off
the rim and bent it.

The engine was
moving around too much so I got rid of the slop in the rubber
mounts.

The muffler was
really loose because of the motor movement, so I fixed that as well.

Mounted much
stronger nose
wheel.

Did a half
throttle taxi test on my short runway. I was able to turn around in
the 50' runway width, and made two 'laps' around without having to make repairs.
It took me all summer to get this far. I could feel the front wheel
getting light. If I was an experienced pilot, this would all go much
faster. I turn 65 in the winter and will have Medicare before the
first flight.

The corn is over
8' now, and I feel I need the extra runway length, and width, so
practice, practice, practice this fall. I didn't practice long
before it started missing, so I
put it in storage.

First takeoff attempt probably late Spring 2017. I'll wait on
the last snow in March, then pull it out of storage, and update the
motor from point ignition to electronic. When I get it running right, I'll do a pull test to make sure
it has enough power to fly me and the plane...at least 1/2 the total
weight...I'll have to weigh me and the plane, and balance it again,
just to be reassured...then up up and away!!!

Spring is here, and I
successfully updated the Rotax 503 to electronic ignition. I did a
run up test and it runs better than ever. Now I am patching up the
covering with new tape where needed. The Sun's UV rays ate up the
top side tape. Now I know to spray it with clear. When I finish
repairing the old tape, I'll reshrink the fabic using a propane boat
shrink wrap gun.

Tightening fabric is working well. The propane heat
gun is MUCH faster than an electric heat gun. The $325 is well worth
it. I'm retaping where the shrinking pulled the tape to expose
aluminum tubing. Also using headliner spray glue to help hold the
fabric in place.

The wings will be
mounted to the plane hopefully by Father's day.

The latest is the take off failed. Either 500' was
not enough runway, or pilot error. I need to retest the thrust from
the motor, but it seemed awesome to me. Maybe I should have mowed
the runway? I'm not sure what is to blame.

Chopper Girl is building a trailer
to carry the PoorGirl. She will come and get it (done!), repair it, add her
motor, and take it to an airport for crow hops. It is her dream to
fly an ultralight for under $1000. I decided to help her because I
will never have time to go to the airport, don't have a trailer, and
really, really want to fly from my back yard.